Barn fire in Bucks County destroys 30,000 books: In 50 years of book collecting, Ben Cavanaugh amassed everything from the rare to the ubiquitous. For every first-edition John Steinbeck there were dozens of Tom Clancy military thrillers stored in bookcase after bookcase in Cavanaugh’s 1740s stone barn. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Book Of A Lifetime: Everyman, by Philip Roth: Philip Roth’s Everyman draws on the “virtuous journey” of the 15th-century allegory in which God summons Death, his messenger, to go to Everyman and bid him come to heaven to be judged. This is a wise book which will unsettle you. Are you ready for this book? I have read it a few times and am still not sure that I am. [Independent]
Italy: Infernal row flares over Florence council’s plans to pardon Dante: Florence council was to have healed the 700-year rift with the poet by presenting the city’s golden florin to Count Pieralvise Serego Alighieri. The count, however, believes the Florentines are not sorry enough. [Guardian]
Against the Day: David Lebedoff on Orwell and Waugh: If Evelyn Waugh might be described as a social alpinist, clambering up one aristocratic pinnacle after another, George Orwell, his exact contemporary — both were born in 1903 — was a spelunker, burrowing ever deeper into the seamiest depths. [NY Sun]
Rowling’s Rare Book to Hit Shelves in December: Just when it looked to be a dull summer with no Harry Potter hoopla, the boy wizard’s fans have something new to celebrate on this, Harry’s (and J.K. Rowling’s) birthday. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a collection of wizarding fairy tales handwritten and illustrated by Rowling, will be published on December 4 by Children’s High Level Group, the English children’s charity co-founded by Rowling and Emma Nicholson. [Publisher's Weekly]
The rise and rise of the first novel: To look at the rise of the first novel is to look into the eyes of a culture that is always restless, always hunting around for the next big thing, no longer sure what or where the action is. [Guardian]
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